Book review: North Korea: State of Paranoia, by Paul French
Mention North Korea and people expect tales of horror or ridicule - and there is good reason for both.
by Paul French
Zed
4 stars
Mention North Korea and people expect tales of horror or ridicule - and there is good reason for both.
It is refreshing then to find an author who analyses its tumultuous history, regional context and difficult relations with its allies. Living and working in Shanghai, Paul French has studied and written about North Korea for many years. He pulls no punches on the country's ruthless politics and the grim lives its people endure. There are titbits here that reinforce the more ridiculous stories. Smoking while driving is banned - because it would prevent drivers from smelling that something is wrong with their car.
But French is primarily concerned with North Korea's economy. This, he argues, is central to understanding the policy shifts and the leadership's motives over the past 60 years. The country is not the world's last communist state, but it is the only one that has never tried private entrepreneurship.
North Korea has a command economy par excellence and, in French's account, the ruling elite has virtually given up on changing it, even though it occasionally talks of reform.
Efforts to attract foreign investment have largely failed. Plans for special economic zones where foreign companies could operate as capitalists with a tame labour force did not succeed because North Korea could not supply the infrastructure or energy. The country lives off foreign aid.
Even the nuclear brinkmanship in which North Korea indulges - by threatening to launch missiles or conduct new tests - has no real military content. Pyongyang has no intention of invading South Korea - and anyway China won't allow it if the situation turns serious. The bluster is mainly designed to restart international negotiations in the hope of new economic payments or concessions, while also keeping up the drumbeat of domestic propaganda that warns North Koreans their country is under permanent threat and needs to maintain high spending on defence.
Could there be an internal uprising, with the population demanding regime change? This is highly improbable. The system is too repressive and most North Koreans have no conception of any alternative. With foreign television jammed, and smartphone and laptop ownership restricted, they are cut off from almost all outside news.
The only change that experts predict is no change at all.
